


2 - Bloody Hands

by BubbaKnowlton



Series: Whumptober 2018 [Disko kid edition] [2]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Whumptober 2018, background Dukat/Benjamin Sisko, child injuries, cuz klingons cut their palms all the time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-29 04:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16256234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubbaKnowlton/pseuds/BubbaKnowlton
Summary: Honestly, Ben thinks, it's like the Prophets are trying to kill their son. / Whumptober 2018-Joey does a blood oath with two klingon twins and a few other children on board, and they all try (and fail) to lie about it.





	2 - Bloody Hands

**Author's Note:**

> the prophets arent trying to kill the disko kid in this one  
> have another one of these bad boys and have Joey making some friends that may or may not show up in future drabbles (though Satal and the twins Definitely will)

**2 - Bloody Hands**

“Joey! Is that your blood?” Benjamin heard Ziyal ask from the other room. He hurriedly put down the food he was making to go see what was going on. When he stepped into the room, he could see that Joey was holding his hands up to his sister, and they were covered in red.

“H-hi, Dad.” The boy’s voice cracked on the first word. “I fell.”

Cardassians were supposed to be good at lying, but Joey was a horrible liar. Benjamin went up to look at where all the blood was coming from. He had two deep gashes across his palms, but the amount of blood suggested that he’d clenched his fists for a while.

There was no way that a fall could cause identical wounds.

“What happened?”

“Fell down and scraped my hands.”

“These look like they were made by a knife. Did someone hurt you?”

“Um...” Joey hesitated, and then said, “It wasn’t to be mean, or anything.”

“Let’s go to the infirmary.”

-

As soon as she saw them, Nurse Jabara sighed and called, “Doctor Bashir?”

“Not another one-” Julian complained, and peaked into the room. When he saw Benjamin, he stepped all the way in. “Captain! Joey was part of this too?”

“Part of what?”

“I have four other children in with the same injuries. None of them will tell me what happened. Come on, Joey, I’ll have your hands fixed up in a moment.” Julian had Joey follow him to a biobed and lifted him onto it.

Sure enough, there were four more children on the other biobeds, their parents with them. Two Bajorans, who looked to be siblings, a Vulcan boy, and a human Benjamin recognized as the daughter of two of the science officers, who nodded at him when he walked in. “Captain.”

Julian scanned Joey’s hands. “You’re all lucky you don’t have any severe damage. However, yours are the deepest cuts. Satal had the worst before you.” The Vulcan boy looked up at the sound of his name.

“Mhmm.”

“Your wounds look self inflicted, like his. What were you doing?”

“Playing.”

“With knives?”

“It’s important to learn self-defense. Mr. Garak said so.”

Benjamin crossed his arms. “I doubt that Mr. Garak would tell five children to slice open their hands.”

“Oh, he didn’t say that. But he has told me self-defense is important. Hmm, last week, I think. I was with Ziyal.”

“Joey, just tell Doctor Bashir what happened.”

“I told you, we were playing. Why don’t you believe me?”

“Because you’re a terrible liar.” Joey frowned. “None of the other kids have said anything?”

“Satal called it a logical learning experience, and said he promised not to discuss it. Ellie insisted it was just an accident playing in the vents until she saw him, and then said it was a game. Min and Teza said the same thing, that it was an accident, until they saw the others and switched the story.”

“It _was_ just a game though, Dad!”

“I thought Cardassians were supposed to be good at lying,” one of the Bajoran children said.

Joey stuck his tongue at them. “I’m half human!”

“No fighting,” Julian scolded. “I don’t think it was a game. None of them are friends. Now, Joey, are there any other injured children?”

Joey looked down at his hands, watching the skin heal in silence.

“Odo is out looking for answers. Hopefully, he’ll come up with something soon. If not, I’ll release all of them from the infirmary in a few hours.”

“They can be released now, Doctor,” came Odo’s voice, along with some snarling. Benjamin and Julian looked to see him dragging two very unhappy Klingon children by the arms. They too had bloodied hands.

Perhaps it really was some sort of game.

“I caught these two sneaking off of the promenade with a bloody knife. It would appear that they decided to gather other children to do a Klingon ritual with.”

“Let us go!”

“No. You’re both getting treated, and then I am contacting your parents.”

“Our father will be proud of us! We performed the ritual exactly as we were taught! Now we are all honor-bound!”

“Even the Vulcan and Cardassian have sworn to honor our promise!”

They looked like twins, and squirmed until Odo deposited them on a biobed. Although they were clearly unhappy with it, they let Julian and Jabara heal their hands. The two Bajoran children hopped off the bed as soon as they got an okay from Julian, and they went up to the twins. “The honor thing sounds fun, we look forward to it!”

“We will gather soon!”

“Even with those two?”

“They cut their hands deep to show they will honor our promise, they are trustworthy.”

Ellie waved goodbye to them as her parents took her, telling her she was grounded and also giving an apology to Benjamin as they passed by.

After a brief explanation from Satal to his parents on why he believed that going along with being injured was logical to learn about other cultures, the Vulcan bid the twins and Joey farewell. “I look forward to fulfilling our oath. It was... intriguing to make your acquaintance.”

“I’ll give you that book about Cardassian custom I promised in front of the replimat tomorrow, Satal.”

“Thank you, Joseph. Live long and prosper.”

“Goodbye.”

As soon as their hands were healed, the twins hopped off of the bed and went up to Joey. “How do Cardassians say goodbye?”

“If you’re really close, you press palms. Like this-” Joey pressed his hands to one of the twins’. Then he turned and did it to the other. “Since we took the oath, I think it’s appropriate for us to do this.”

“Great! We will call for your aid in the future, Cardassian!”

“And now we’ll call for your father, in the security office.” Odo took them by the arms again. “Captain, Doctor.” He gave them a nod before leaving.

“Bye!” Joey waved to them. They grinned back at him.

Once they were gone, Benjamin gave his son a look. “You took an oath with some Klingons?”

“And two Bajorans, a Vulcan, and a human.”

“Your father isn’t going to be happy about that.”

“Father doesn’t have to know, Dad!”

**Author's Note:**

> Follow/talk to me on Tumblr: @oblio-k


End file.
